LED Lighting for Police
The police force is one of our most valued civic bodies. In terms of public safety and security, crime fighting and managing hostile situations, their job is never over. Working in a shift pattern around the clock, our police officers do sterling work in protecting Britain 24/7. Sadly, however, this does not make them immune to budget cuts.
In September 2009 the number of police officers reached an historic peak of 144,353. Since then, numbers have declined rapidly and alarmingly with a loss of almost 15,000 posts, bringing the new total to around 129,000. Spending has been cut dramatically and cost-saving measures are in place across the board. But by cutting the number of police officers, this is very much in danger of becoming a false economy. It’s inevitable that crime rates will rise and by not tackling this at a lower level, it has the potential to needlessly escalate into a much bigger problem.
Is there another solution?
Put simply – there has to be. The UK’s police forces are really feeling the cuts demanded by government bodies. Looking at the statistics, there is due to be a 35,000 reduction in the number of police posts by 2020. Sara Thornton, head of the NPCC (National Police Chief’s Council, replacing ACPO) has spoken out to say that we still need the traditional ‘bobbies on the beat’. This simple crime fighting measure is one of the most successful strategies used by police. So if we don’t want to cull police posts any further, what else needs to happen?
One of the largest bills that police forces face nationwide is their energy bill. With electricity consumption and public space safety at a premium, police forces quite rightly rely on a lot of external lighting and internal High Bay Lighting for their Head Quarters. Having large spaces well lit is a proven deterrent against would-be criminals. In fact, the police are one of the biggest campaigners for having LED street lighting in place. But it isn’t just the quantity of light needed – it’s also the quality.
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Enter the LED lighting police solution
LEDs provide exactly the type of lighting so desperately needed by police forces. With their ‘white’ light, LED lights convincingly replicate daylight and keep even the darkest corners illuminated. They can be sensor controlled, meaning that they are not being used when they don’t need to be and yet the police would have the security of knowing that if light were needed – it would be there. Using LED Flood lighting is ideal for large areas where the more advanced thinking of the police is going.
But are they economical?
Installing LED Flood lighting or in other areas, such as LED bollard lighting and LED post top lighting requires a greater initial investment than traditional lamps would demand. However, with an average life span of 50,000-100,000 hours their overall cost is far, far lower than incandescent lighting and can provide a significant saving for the police.
Other benefits of LED Lighting for the police include:
– Deterring crime through high-quality lighting
– Very specific lighting
– Being able to dim lights if necessary
– Longevity; if one LED stops working, it won’t affect the others, meaning that LED lights can be relied on far more than traditional lights
If police forces nationwide adopted this new Exterior LED lighting strategy, they could see their energy bill decreased by a huge amount. This would in turn mean that savings were not needed as drastically in terms of police post cuts – and arguably lead to a safer society for us all.
Read more on LED Police Lighting.